Bush extends US legal immunity in Iraq

[whosinpower]

Not sure if this was posted on DU or not - if it was, my apologies for missing it.

http://deepblade.net/journal/2005/05/bush-extends-us-legal-immunity-in-iraq.html

snip - According to one of the references from these sources -- the Government Accountability Project,
Activities exempt from accountability The scope of the EO's mandate for lawlessness is limited only by the imagination. Section 1(b) shields value ``of any nature whatsoever'' if it ``aris from'' or is ``related to'' the ``sale or marketing of all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products" or ``interests.'' That means all corporate activities with roots or any connection to Iraqi oil. It covers everything from extraction through transportation, advertising, manufacture, customer service, corporate records and payment of taxes. It covers compliance with contractual obligations involving Iraqi oil that industry enters with the U.S. government in post-war Iraq. The scope can be further expanded to virtually all oil-related commerce, by blending Iraqi oil with domestic supplies for any given commercial transaction. Since the EO also covers petroleum ``products,'' It includes commerce such as plastics in the petrochemical industry or anything else for which Iraqi oil becomes relevant.


IMPORTANT SNIP regarding fraud and Custor Battles - The Air Force has said in a formal finding that there is adequate evidence that Custer Battles has defrauded the government and that this evidence justifies shutting off the flow of government contracts to Custer Battles. We estimate that the government’s total losses are tens of millions of dollars. Yet for more than a year, the Bush administration has done nothing to recover these ill-gotten gains from Custer Battles, much less bring the wrongdoers to justice.

In fact, in October of 2004, in our False Claims Act case, the very purpose of which is to recover this money on behalf of the U.S. government, the Bush administration declined to participate in the case. When we asked why, the assistant U.S. attorney indicated the Bush administration had decided, as a matter of policy, that cheating the Coalition Provisional Authority is not the same as cheating the United States.


Read the whole article - it is enlightening, disheartening and frightening what Bushco is getting away with.

[ooglymoogly]

1. well this shouldn't come as a shock to anyone

he is packing the courts and weakening laws to protect his cabal here in the u.s....much easier in iraq where he has absolute powers.

[DrDebug]

2. It was to be expected. Halliburton doesn't take risks

If I read it correctly, it does mean that this only applies to companies, however those companies are not immune from Iraqi law.

It's not frightening, because I doubt whether his Executive Order will hold up when challenged, so they are building castles on sand and if for some reason on of the oil giants feels neglected then you'll notice that it is nothing but sand.

[Fridays Child]

3. 13303 is a corporate criminal free-for-all. It wouldn't surprise me if...

...packages of cash from the CPA's vault were mailed to individuals in the United States.